my ring

I think I saw one of my professors open a beer bottle with his wedding ring.

I figure it just takes time.

I'm Blogging This

Libby,
It's 2am now and my hamster, Jersey, is up at full speed on his wheel. Hamsters are nocturnal plains mammals that travel several miles in a night to search for food. In captivity my hamster gets on his wheel, runs really fast, gets off and eats something, runs really fast in the other direction, and has something to drink.

I think he's trying to simulate these things being far apart.

The cats, Samson and Toby, were really interested in Jersey at first. I observed about a year ago that cats do not like it when a large ball rolls towards them. I don't know if they can't figure it out or they're scared of getting squished or what, but they hate pilates balls and Jersey's ball when it's coming towards them. This means they'll stalk him for a few minutes as he rolls around the room but eventually Jersey notices and starts chasing them around the house. They still want to get inside his cage, but I think that's just because they like boxes.


Your lovely wedding present came today in a box large enough to hold a vacuum. Turns out it was only big enough for one kitty and when Toby tried to jump in after Samson there was a big fight. Samson is the dominant cat, she's all black and every so often we'll finder with tufts of Toby's orange fur hanging out of her mouth.

Still they're good friends, earlier today I found them sleeping in a sunbeam together, languidly cleaning each other's ears.

The note you included was so sweet, Lib, you don't even know.

On to the more business-like tone usual to catching-up email:

In answer to your question about living on the Republican side of town (and by the way when did you become such an old file on the subject of Eugene's geography?) our little place is unique. Starting out as a small shitbox with three bedrooms, owners since the fifties have improved fixtures and torn down walls until the house had hardwood floors, a brick bay for the pellet stove (rarely working but still nice to look at), and new double-paned windows. In making large spacious, well-appointed rooms for his primary residence, our land-lord ended up with an almost impossible rental property: it's a freestanding house in a charming garden in a quite part of town that can hold no more than one bed. There's one huge bedroom and an open living-kitchen-pellet stove area which will never again afford privacy. As a couple splitting the rent it's a huge deal for our own house, but for rent on a single unit it's through the roof.

When only one of us is earning it can be tough, the rest of the time it's a piece of cake, a short hop to the stores, right on the bus line.

I heard on the radio that almost everyone who talks to a financial planner thinks they'd be set for money if their income was just 40% more. From that perspective it's easy to see how despite feeling pinched I already make enough to keep a house with hardwood floors, two cats and a hamster, and a freezer full of ice cream novelties.

It'll do.

Toby

P.S.
Google mail has a spellcheck feature and whenever I hit it on a long email and it says "no spelling errors found" I always feel like I've hit some sort of jackpot

Suits

Buying a suit is like buying a car: you need one, they're treating you like shit and you're paying way too much. Want to drive across town and see if the other place will be any better?